A newspaper publisher’s wife was so blindsided by his suicide that she still doesn’t understand why he did it.
Vince Bodiford, 62, was found dead late on Monday afternoon in Lions Park, a reserve about a mile from his home in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The veteran newsman took his own life just days after stepping down from his position a the top of Wyoming media last Friday.
His wife Jeanette Bodiford, 59, announced his death to family and friends in a heartbreaking Facebook post, made public on Wednesday.
‘To my family, friends, neighbors, and loved ones, by now, most if not all of you have heard the news my husband Vince passed away on Monday,’ she wrote.
‘It is true that Vincent made a decision that we will never be able to understand and took his own life.
‘We like to believe that when we love a person for so long, we know everything about them. The good, and the bad, but the reality is that we never truly know everything.
‘We all have demons, and sometimes those demons get too big for the moment we are in. While I hate the action, it will never reflect the man I have spent my life with.’
Vince Bodiford, 62, (pictured with his wife Jeanette) was found dead on Monday in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Jeanette Bodiford, 59, announced his death to family and friends in a heartbreaking Facebook post, sharing this photo from their wedding
The couple have two adult children and four grandchildren.
‘A million miles behind us, a million miles ahead of us. Fast cars, our cool kids, traveling on planes traines and automobiles – have we had fun or what?! And much more to come!’ Jeanette wrote on their anniversary in 2021.
Bodiford had a wide circle of friends from across the country as he moved several times, but ‘somehow managed to place me in the center of his Venn diagram’, his wife wrote.
One friend remembered him on social media, writing ‘Vince was the greatest person in the world.’
Another shared: ‘We were supposed to meet at NADA in New Orleans two weeks ago but the snow there closed the airport and Vince’s flight was cancelled. I really wish we would have met for a nice chat and a beverage.’
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak confirmed his cause of death was suicide.
Bodiford was regional president of Adams Publishing Group, overseeing five newspapers across Wyoming owned by company.
He joined the company last October when APG bought the Cheyenne Post, which he started just after moving to Wyoming in April 2019.
Why he resigned last Friday after just four months into the job is unclear.
Bodiford had a long publishing career, seen here in an old photo hard at work, shared by his wife
Bodiford in an old photo with his son. He had two adult children and four grandchildren
Bodiford died just months after one of the papers described how there was no place he and his wife Jeanette, 59, would ‘rather put down anchor’.
‘[They] enjoyed the friendliness of the people, the strong sense of community and the welcoming business environment. From the start, Laramie County has felt like home to the couple,’ it read.
Bodiford was quoted in the company newsletter just last week as he promoted two executives, and last published an article – a test drive of a Hyundai Tucson – on January 23.
He called the Cheyenne Post his ‘sandbox’ to ‘experiment with a variety of different content-delivery concepts’ before it was sold.
Bodiford’s media career began with a job at his local paper in Southern California aged 13, and sold his first ad to his high school yearbook at 16.
He kept selling ads for the first decade after graduating university, then started local papers in Texas, Colorado, and Nebraska until they were acquired by Gannett.
Other jobs included running 90 local TV stations across the US, and starting PR firm NewsMakers with offices in Michigan, Texas, and Wyoming.
Bodiford was regional president of Adams Publishing Group, overseeing five newspapers across Wyoming owned by company
Bodiford died just months after one of the papers described how there was no place he and his wife would ‘rather put down anchor’
Bodiford also ran NewsNet, a news program running on local TV stations, at the same time as the Cheyenne Post, until it ended last August.
‘We get up every morning, work hard all day, have a lot of fun, do some good in the world, and start over tomorrow,’ he said of his job there.
The company was run by former Sports Illustrated owner Manoj Bhargava, who explained why NewsNet was shut down.
‘Simply put – more viewers are attracted to sensationalized, bias news. We believed people would want to watch a clean, non-bias news network, but we were wrong,’ he said at the time.
‘Without a large audience, we just couldn’t continue to lose money. We hired the best people and talent, and we appreciate their hard work and effort. But we just couldn’t continue.’
Bodiford’s manner of death was not released and his funeral details are not yet announced.
Call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hotline, if you are in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
